IBM’s One Step Towards Making Quantum Computing A Reality

Scientists and researchers say that if successfully developed, quantum computers could take shortcuts through many calculations which today’s computers find difficult to do. As per the reports, IBM has developed a new superconducting chip which demonstrates a technique which is crucial for the development of Quantum computers.

According to the MIT Technology review, this superconducting chip demonstrates an important step needed for the creation of computer processors that crunch numbers by exploiting the weirdness of quantum physics.

IBM’s new chip is the first one to integrate the devices need to build a computer, known asqubits, into a 2-D grid. Researchers think one of the best ways to make a practical quantum computer would involve creating grids of thousands of qubits working together. The circuits of IBM’s chip are made from metals that become superconducting when cooled to extremely low temperatures. The chip operates at only a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.

Alternative processors such as quantum chips are becoming important. Although today’s computer chips continue to pile on transistors at the heady clip predicted by Moore’s Law, their components are so tiny they’re becoming harder and harder to shrink.

“Moore’s law is going to come to an end in the next decade, for sure,” said Supratik Guha, a director at IBM Research. When that happens, the computer industry will need to find a new way to deliver the performance gains that have fueled its break-neck growth for the past 50 years.

IBM researchers believe that a machine capable of calculating hundreds of qubits could be 5-10 years away from us. Nobody knows how long it would take for quantum machines to displace conventional computers or whether that will happen.

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